Disclaimer: I don't own Robin Hood or any of the characters. Don't sue, BBC.
Family
Allan A Dale was five when Tom A Dale came into this world. They were nine and four when they were thrust into the world on their own, made to provide for themselves. Allan quickly learned how to steal without getting caught, and as Tom grew older he learned as well, and became even better than his older brother. They got along quite well that way, until Allan was twenty. Tom then thought himself grown up enough to survive on his own, and made off with his brother's horse and purse. Allan woke up that morning with no brother and no belongings. Sadly enough, he didn't actually care very much about the first, but was quite upset about the second. At age twenty-three he was caught poaching the King's deer, and sentenced to hang with an unfortunate group of people from Locksley. Sitting in that dirty cell, with the three boys from Locksley, is when he was finally forced to think. He, expecting to die at daybreak, thought about the brother he had lost. He thought about his deceased mother and his wretch of a father. And that night is when he discovered that he had finally forgiven his brother, and even wished to see him again. Now, you might ask why it was this night that he came to this startling conclusion. You see, in this cell, as I have told you, were three boys. One was quite close to manhood, and then there were two younger ones. The older one and the youngest one were brothers, while the third was simply their friend. All three had been caught boldly stealing flour, but now, as they prepared to die, only the oldest one was still strong. He held the younger ones and whispered encouragement to them. Allan, sitting across the cell, just watched.
"Luke. Luke, look at me. You have to be strong. You have to be strong for Mother," the older one pleaded with his younger brother. Luke looked up into his brother's face tearfully, searching his eyes. Finally he gripped his brother's hand.
"For Mother," he repeated solemnly. The older one hugged him hard, and whispered over his hair. Allan could not hear the words, but read his lips.
"I love you." He had said. And that is when Allan came to the startling conclusion that this is what brotherhood was meant to be like – each caring for the other, and both loving and supporting each other. Love was a foreign concept to him, but that was the moment he resolved to pursue it, for his and his brother's sake.
The next morning, as they waited fearfully to be taken to the gallows, Allan scooted over to the other three.
"I'm Allan." he addressed the older brother.
"Will." the other responded quietly. Allan nodded and withdrew back to his side of the cell. At least now he would not die without knowing anyone.
The hours passed quickly, and the four were taken to die. The people had gathered to see the execution. Allan noticed the brothers' father, calling out encouragement to them. Then the hoods were put over their heads, followed by a thick rope. Allan gulped, but refused to struggle vainly like the other three. The proclamation explaining their crime was read, and then the support was dropped and he was hanging. The rope cut off his air, and though he tried not to struggle, he couldn't help it. The need to breathe overpowered any pride he had left, and he fought like the other three. His vision was fading out, when he suddenly fell to the platform. He gasped, deep gulping gasps of air. Then he pulled the hood off, and looked around. The other three were free as well. The next moments were a blur of people; guards fighting and men yelling and running and riding and dodging arrows and soldiers; and then they were in the woods, free at last.
Later Allan found out that the man who had freed them was a nobleman. Then they ran into another group of outlaws in the forest, and were robbed and tied up. The only thing Allan later remembered from that day was that the nobleman had spoken up on his behalf when he was robbed, reprimanding the outlaws for stealing from a poor man. Oh, and later, after a bewildering array of captures and escapes among the two groups, they joined together. When the nobleman – Robin – was later captured, his manservant tried to get Allan and Will (the other two had gone back home) and the other group of outlaws to come and help him free Robin, but they wouldn't, and then they would…Allan didn't bother trying to figure it out. He just followed the group, and they somehow managed to free Robin and escape the castle.
After that frighteningly fast week, the days passed slowly. Allan and Will stayed with Robin and his manservant, Much. Two other outlaws joined their group – John and Roy – making their number six. Several weeks later, the first female joined them; a Saracen girl called Djaq.
It was with this small group of people that Allan learned what family meant. He learned how to love others more than one's self, and how to act honorably and responsibly. It was not a fast process by any means, and he made many mistakes along the way. That was how he learned that family forgives, even when you don't necessarily deserve it.
It was a good thing that he had learned these lessons by the time Tom reappeared. The group caught Tom stealing, claiming to be part of Robin's group. Robin himself quickly dispelled that myth, but agreed to let Tom join them, at Allan's request. Allan tried, really he tried, to teach his brother the same lessons he had learned, but Tom was not ready. He was given many chances, but he squandered each one. His disregard of the last chance brought his death. Allan did not ask Robin to save Tom, because he knew Tom didn't deserve it. That is how he learned another lesson about family – they never give up on you. Robin and the rest tried to save Tom, but they failed and he was hanged. Allan went away to grieve alone, as he always had, but Djaq followed him. She comforted him, and went so far as to share the story of her brother, who was also dead. And even though he was devastated that Tom was gone, he learned that family comforts you in your grief.
Then one day he had a small disagreement with Much, and stalked off alone. While he was alone, he was captured and sent to the dungeons to be tortured until he gave up Robin and the rest. With all his new knowledge about family at the front of his mind, he refused to betray them. The old Allan would have given them up in a heartbeat, but the new Allan was learning to trust and be trusted. So he waited to be rescued. He endured the pain, and refused to talk, because he was sure that they would come for him. His family would come for him. He only gave up after he was told that they had been there, and yet had not come to rescue him. He did not know that they were rescuing Robin, who had also been captured, and that they didn't even know he was there too. All he knew was that he had trusted them to save him, and they had not. That is when he gave up and agreed to betray them. He returned to the camp as a bitter spy for the other side.
His betrayal nearly undid all the lessons he had learned about family, but some still stuck in his mind. He did not go as far as to kill them, or to kill those they cared about. He didn't give up any more information than he had to, out of memory for the good they had done for him. Then he was discovered, and cast out of the group. It was only then that he truly realized how much he cared for them. He begged for forgiveness, but all Robin did was spare his life. He left, a confused and angry man.
It was while he was on his own that his new knowledge was truly tested. The old Allan desperately wanted to return, but the new Allan would not let him. They fought, and it was so much hard to do the right thing without the support of his family, but he tried. Finally, after many months alone, he repented and returned to Robin and the rest, saved them, and begged again for forgiveness. It was reluctantly and slowly given, and he vowed never to lose their trust again. He worked hard from then on, throwing himself into each and every day, trying to prove himself to them so that he would have his family back as it had been before. But, alas, it was not to be.
A plot of their enemies drove them to foreign soil, where Robin's love was killed. After that tragedy, Will and Djaq stayed in that country as man and wife, leaving only Allan, Much and John to follow Robin home. Allan stayed with the group, but they were only broken remnants of the family they had been before. Allan tried not to blame himself, but he couldn't help wondering if it was his betrayal that had been the beginning crack in their family.
The days passed, and more people joined them in their fight. There was Tuck, a man of God with a fiery passion for justice; and Kate, a feisty villager who had been outlawed for trying to protect her brother. Allan grew to love Kate as more than a sister in their family, but the feeling was not returned. She loved Robin. Allan, the new Allan, gave her up and accepted his defeat sadly.
Then one day, one of their enemies came to join the fight. Allan did not know what to think, as this was the man who he had worked for during his betrayal, the man who had killed Kate's brother, the man who had killed Robin's love, the man they had been fighting against and hating for so long. But Robin was willing to accept him, and Kate and Much were willing to follow his lead. Tuck did not seem to have an opinion, but John adamantly refused to agree with Robin, and left the group when they were not willing to disobey Robin. Allan went after him, to try and convince him not to go. He reminded him of the great cause they were fighting for, and of the beliefs they all shared, but John still refused. And that was when Allan brought out his final plea.
"We're family," he said. "We need you, John."
And when John refused even that final plea, Allan still refused to let him go. He watched John get captured, and then risked his own life to free him. Finally, John agreed to return to the group. Allan was glad, because he knew how much it hurt to lose family. John might have forgotten for a while how much he cared, but Allan knew, all too well, that he would have remembered after a few days alone, and wished that he could come back.
It turned out all right in the end – the enemy joining them. He proved himself trustworthy, and benefitted their cause. All seemed to be going well, but then their remaining enemy devised a plan that made Allan look like a traitor, again. He tried desperately to convince them that it was not true, but nobody believed him. They had been hurt once by his lies, and were not willing to risk it again. He wanted to remind them of all the times he risked his life for them, remind them that he had changed from the old Allan, remind them that they were family and family trusts each other. But he could see in their eyes that they did not believe him, and so he said nothing. They left him tied up, while they went to make their last stand against the enemy.
It hurt that they believed the enemy over him. He had been fighting all this time for them, for his family. He didn't care about Robin's causes, or Tuck's beliefs. He fought only because they were his family, and he loved them. Now that they had rejected him, there was nothing left to fight for. He easily freed himself and left. He allowed himself to be angry, knowing that the alternative was to be devastated by their rejection. As he was stalking away though, he saw their ultimate enemy on his way to where Robin and the rest were. Allan started to ignore him, but he remembered the most important lesson of family – forgiveness. He ran to warn Robin, to save the family that had betrayed him. On the way, the enemy caught him. He was shot in the back, but he kept on running, knowing that Robin needed him. It took three arrows to bring him down. He lay on the dead leaves and gasped out his last words.
"You!"
Nobody heard the end of that sentence, because it never made it farther than his thoughts. We can only guess what he might have said.
You are the reason I lost my family.
You are going to lose, because Robin is going to win.
You will fail.
You can kill me, but don't hurt my family.
Guesses do not do justice to his thoughts, though, nor do they justify his death. Allan died, alone and rejected from the only family he had. He had no friends in his last moments, no brother to hear his dying breaths. There were only the dead leaves and brown trees to listen as he gasped painfully, and finally stopped breathing all together.
Wasted. That is the word that came to Robin's mind as they burned Allan's body later. His death was wasted. He did not die in a glorious last charge, he did not die to save another; he died because the people who should have loved him most in the world rejected him. The "if only's" paraded through his thoughts. If only they would have believed him. If only they had tied him tighter. If only he had survived being shot. If only the arrows would have missed. If only, if only… But people were still dying, and the enemy was still living, so Robin forced himself to continue fighting. The rest of the group, the rest of the family, mourned for their lost brother. They did not mourn simply because he was gone, but because they had not had the chance to say goodbye or to ask for forgiveness. But, like Robin, they knew that their enemy would not wait for them to grieve properly, and they knew they had to move on quickly. So Allan did not even get the decency of a proper burial. His body was quickly burned, and the goodbyes brief, so that the fighting could continue. That is the end of the tale of Allan A Dale – a thief and traitor turned friend and ally, and more than that, a brother.
Yes, I know that I left out a ton of the storyline. I only included certain parts, and I know that they're significantly simplified. I was trying to make a point across all three seasons, though, so forgive me. And if you read this far, please review. It's not hard. Pretty please….